Augustana (Ill.) wins big over North Central

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- Pins by Matt Burns (Naperville Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) and Jordan Richardson (Grandville HS, Wyoming, Ill.) helped spark 17th ranked Augustana to a 32-7 win over North Central on Thursday, January 17 in the Carver Center. The victory was the Vikings' first over the Cardinals since the 2004-05 season, snapping a seven-match losing streak in the series, which Augustana still leads by a huge 28-9 margin.

The Vikings were ahead 17-3 heading into the 174 pound weight class when Burns pinned Vince Marrone just :53 into the action to move the lead to 23-3. That made Burns 27-3 on the year. Richardson followed his teammate with a fall at 184 in 1:56 over Adam Lehnus to push the margin to 29-3. Richardson's individual record went to 25-6.

Augustana won the first three weight classes to jump out to a 12-0 lead. Junior Jacob Scholten (Rockford HS, Grandville, Mich.) beat Nick Santos 10-3 at 125 and freshman Jimmy Panozzo (Carl Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.) followed with an 8-5 win over John Williamson at 133. Sophomore Hector Ruiz (East Aurora HS, Aurora, Ill.) picked up a forfeit at 141.

After Augustana's Walter Piech (Lincoln-Way East HS, Mokena, Ill.) lost a tough 4-2 decision at 149 to Nathan Segal, the Vikings got back on track at 157 pounds. Sophomore Kevin Sundberg (Paw Paw HS, Paw Paw, Mich.) beat Blake Olson 8-6 to run his record to 25-10. Sophomore Connor Cummings (Downers Grove North HS, Woodridge, Ill.) beat Jason Bonham 8-4 at 165 to move to 7-11 individually and give Augustana a 17-3 lead in the team score.

The pins by Burns and Richardson at 174 and 184 put the match on ice for head coach Eric Juergens' team. Sophomore Seth Whan (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) lost 9-0 to the Cardinals Casey Greenberg at 197 but sophomore John Schraidt (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Riverside, Ill.) ended the match with an 8-3 win over Dylan Mahler at 285. Schraidt is now 22-6 on the season.

Augustana will be in action again on January 25 with a double dual at home against Knox and Wheaton.